


Math is hard (for Ryuji)

by RavenThePhantomThief



Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Gen, Math, Mathematics, One Shot, Short One Shot, Study Group, Teaching, learning, numbers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-19
Updated: 2019-03-19
Packaged: 2019-11-24 14:06:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18166163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RavenThePhantomThief/pseuds/RavenThePhantomThief
Summary: Ryuji and Akira are trying to solve a math problem and need help. Lucky for them, that Futaba is always there when someone has problems with logic and numbers.





	Math is hard (for Ryuji)

**Author's Note:**

> I studied for 2 math exams for the last 2 months. This is what happened to my brain.

"Man! Why is this so hard?"

Ryuji's head dropped down on the table. Pens were knocked up in the air for a few seconds before they landed back on his notes and rolled towards the edge of the table. Akira grabbed them with a swift motion and placed them in his pencil-case.

“We will get it. It can't be that hard.”

“In case you didn't hear me just now, I repeat: Why is this SO HARD?”

It was a loud scream. Or at least it would have been, but the blond boy's voice was muffled through the table.

“This doesn't even feel like Math. Where the eff are the numbers?”

“Well, there is a number.”

“… That's the letter e.”

“Which is a mathematical constant called Euler's Number.”

“This thing has a name?”

He dropped back in his chair and stared at the ceiling of the attic. 

“Isn't there a person that could help us? Someone that knows a lot about Math?”

They turned their heads towards Akira's bed. Futaba was sitting cross-legged on the mattress and watched a Youtube-video on her phone. 

“I said,” Ryuji repeated, this time a bit louder. “Isn't there a person that could help us?”

The girl looked up and removed her headphones.

“Ryuji?”

“Yes?”

“Can you suffer in silence? I can't understand Markiplier.”

“We need help!”

“With what?”

“With Math?”

Futaba rolled her eyes, mumbled something that sounded like: “Stupid mortals” and stood up.

“So what do you want to know?”

“We have this sheet with questions and we don't really know what all that stuff means.”

“Even Akira doesn't know? Boy, normally you know such stuff!”

The raven-haired boy just shrugged his shoulders. “I don't know. This stuff appears to be more complicated than the stuff we normally do in Math class.”

“Let me see… okay, this is not so bad. You just have to proof that 4n > 2ⁿ is true for every other n > 4 with n ∈ ℕ. What's the problem?”

“What does that ∈ thing mean?”

“It means n is an element of ℕ!”

“Okay… what is n then?”

“Well, n represents an element from ℕ. If you use more elements you have to number them. Like n₁, n₂, and so on.”

“And that means?”

“'That means that n is a natural number.”

“But n is a letter...”

“… Did you stop visiting Math lessons after 4th grade?”

“… I don't want to answer that...”

“Okay. Let me explain it like this: ℕ represents the natural numbers. So you have the numbers {1,2,3,4…} without-”

“Wait, how are you able to speak out these curly bracket things?”

“You mean {}?“

“Yes!“

“I just do it. Now stop interrupting my explanation! So you have all the numbers that are not negative and-“

“Wait, what do you mean negative numbers?“

“I mean the negative numbers that are part of 𝕫. You know {...-2,-1,0,1,2…}.“

“There are even more numbers?“

“Yes, there are even more numbers. Ryuji are you serious? Why don't you know the most basic stuff?”

“Sorry! But if I have to prove it I can just put a number at the place where n is and show it. Right?“

“No.“

“No?“

“No! You can't prove something with an example, because it could change for other numbers. To proof that 4n < 2ⁿ is always true for all n > 4 you simply have to prove that it is true for n+1.”

Akira suddenly looked up. “I think I get it. So I only have to change the n with n+1 and proof that 4(n+1) < 2⁽ⁿ⁺¹⁾.”

“Yes! You got it!”

But Ryuji didn't get it. “Wait, what do you mean, he got it? But that doesn't make sense! We wouldn't have a clear answer, right?”

“Yes, but that's what we want. The answer has to show that it works for all the numbers higher than 4. If we had a clear answer, like “It works with 5” we had to proof the same thing with 6 and 7 and every other number after that. It would be impossible.”

“So the correct answer would be- “Akira lifted his notes to show Futaba what he wrote down, “- that we write down the problem with the number n+1 instead of n. Then we can change 4(n+1) < 2⁽ⁿ⁺¹⁾ to 4n + 4 < 2ⁿ × 2¹ which tells us that we still just have 4n < 2ⁿ but with every higher n the left side only adds 4 to the sum while the right side gets always multiplied with 2.”

“Yeah! You got it Akira! This is easy, right?”

“Yes, it is easy. Thank you, Futaba.”

“I still don't understand what you just did? Where did the second 4 come from? And the 2?”

“It is simple Ryuji: When you have-”

Akira explained the entire process and at the end of it, Ryuji's head landed on the desk again.

“Was that too much? I hope we didn't break him.”

“Don't worry. Ryuji's brain turned on and replaced everything he could hear and see with funny videos and pictures from the internet to protect his brain from actually learning something useful. Ryujis made this step in evolution to protect their fragile world from being obliterated. I call it the “Mind-Escapes-Math-Exitus-Step!”

“Mind-Escapes-Math… hahaha… MEMES!”

“It's funny, right? Oh, apropos memes, I found this funny picture the other day and...”

And with that, the Math learning meeting ended and everybody enjoyed some dank memes.

The End.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you could enjoy this small piece of nonsense and I hope I didn't make any mistake. If you liked this story, feel free to leave a comment or take a look at the other things I posted. ^^
> 
> Edit: Sorry. The word I was looking for was Exitus not Exodus. I confused these words.


End file.
